History of Cold Spring

Philipstown, Putnam County, New York

Surrounded mostly by Philipstown Township and south of Nelsonville.

1775-1782  --  the American Revolutionary War.

c. 1780  -- according to folk lore, General George Washington took a sip of water from a local spring and announced, "Cold Spring."

1812 – the War of 1812 impelled the Federal Government to encourage a domestic munitions industry and Cold Spring was an ideal location because of its closeness to West Point and access to Hudson River transportation, not to mention the iron ore available in the Hudson Highlands.

1815 – the Philipstown Turnpike Company was created to improve a toll road from Cold Spring to Connecticut. The toll road proved not be to a profitable venture for the investors.

1817 – Putnam County's most famous industry, the West Point Foundry, created.

The Foundry's huge demand for workers, skilled and unskilled, brought Putnam's first flood of immigrants directly from Europe, primarily from England and Ireland.

1830 – Gouverneur Kemble donated a site on the banks of the Hudson River and the money to build the future Chapel of Our Lady. The architect, Thomas Kellah Wharton, designed the chapel in the Greek Revival style.

1834 – Chapel of Our Lady consecrated by Bishop Dubois as St. Mary's, the first Catholic church in the Hudson Valley.

1846  -- village of Cold Spring incorporated.

1930s  --  Chapel of Our Lady almost destroyed by fire.

1977  --  the newly restored Chapel of Our Lady rededicated.

1996 – the village celebrated the 150th Anniversary of its incorporation (1846) as well as the 100th Anniversary of its Fire Department.